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B-B.com HtH Weekly Newsletter - Week 3

In a relatively low scoring week, two undefeated teams suffered their first loss of the season. The DiMaggio Division felt another blow when all five teams in the division fell to teams from the Mantle Division while playing at home. Home was not sweet this week when out of the seven matchups this week, only one home team won. The Mantle Division (10-4) edges the Ruth Division (8-5) in taking the best record while the DiMaggio Division trails behind them (3-12).

Team of the Week - West Haven Yankees (325 points)
Luckiest Team of the Week – Bambino’s Ghost (won with 240 points)
Unluckiest Team of the Week – Michigan Wolverines (lost with 314 points)
Matchup of the Week - German Gold Gloves vs. Bad News Bears (5 points' difference in the result)

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The West Haven Yankees maintained its title as the highest-scoring team this week, narrowly escaping a pursuit by Babe’s Piano Playaz. They benefited from an offensive explosion from Vladimir Guerrero, who pounded out 3 home runs and 11 RBIs and solid hitting from Fred McGriff, Mike Lowell, and Ben Grieve. Other factors for this team included the very hot pitching duo of Al Leiter, who threw a complete game two hitter, and Livan Hernandez, who racked up another two wins.

The Piano Playaz lost the title for Team of the Week, but they had other problems to worry about as they managed to grab a second win by fending off the undefeated Michigan Wolverines in a close finish. Benefiting from the home run onslaught by Barry Bonds and Lance Berkman this week, along with another strong outing by rookie pitcher Vicente Padilla, they edged the Wolverines by a mere 9 points. The Wolverines, on the other hand, became the Unluckiest Team of the Week while Richie Sexson hammered out 3 home runs and 9 RBIs and Torii Hunter continued his hot start at the plate this season. Consistent hitting by Jeff Kent and Albert Pujols, along with the surprising performances by A.J. Burnett on the mound, also helped them.

Had it not been the Wolverines’ misfortunes this week, the German Gold Gloves would have maintained its title of Unluckiest Team of the Week, falling a mere 5 points to the Bad News Bears. Although the Gold Gloves received massive support from the slugging Cliff Floyd and Mike Piazza, along with an outstanding pitching job by Pedro Martinez, the blowout that C.C. Sabathia allowed unfortunately burned them. The Bears, for their part, had great offensive contributions from sluggers Jeff Bagwell and Brian Giles along with the surprisingly hot hitting David Ortiz. They also benefited from strong outings by Eric Milton and Roy Halladay.

With the revitalized bats of Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez, as well as a decent performance by Steve Sparks, who recorded his first win of the season, and a hot Kazuhisa Ishii, Saxmania’s Swingers easily defeated Junior’s Bashers. The return of Troy Percival from the DL can only help the Swingers as they battle it out in the Mantle Division. The Bashers had decent support from their slugging outfielders Sammy Sosa and Luis Gonzalez, along with the hot bat of Robin Ventura. They also received help from the revitalized Frank Thomas. Their downfall came at the hands of the pitching staff – short outings by Ben Sheets and Freddy Garcia along with the blowout suffered by Bartolo Colon this week.

After posting high scores the first two weeks of the season, Bambino's Ghost finished Week 3 with a surprisingly low score of 240. Raul Mondesi and Ray Durham supplied much of the offensive numbers while Brandon Duckworth put up another great pitching performance - although he did not get the win - and Mike Williams gained another three saves. However, much of the highs were taken off by the lows, with less than stellar outings by Shawn Estes and the news that Johnny Damon might have broken his finger when he tried to bunt earlier this week. The Buckeye Bombers suffered from a meltdown in their pitching staff – especially by Jason Bere. Their low score this week can also be explained by the fact that they only got one win from the pitchers this week. With pitcher Joe Mays going onto the DL with an inflamed elbow, he will be joining two other pitchers there. There are some bright spots for the Bombers though. Jason Schmidt could be coming off the DL as early as this week and Mike Cameron and Jeremy Giambi continue to have hot bats.

In the battle of two winless teams, the FP Balloon Knots came up victorious. They enjoyed consistent support from their slugging trio of Todd Helton, Magglio Ordonez, and J.D. Drew, along with decent numbers up and down their pitching staff, from Greg Maddux to Roy Oswalt to rookie sensation Josh Beckett. Italian Ice on the other hand, although they benefited from the hot hitting duo of Alfonso Soriano and Derek Jeter and the closing duo of John Smoltz and Trevor Hoffman, is another team plagued by pitching troubles. James Baldwin was torched for 9 runs in 15 innings and Kevin Brown and Andy Pettitte are now on the DL. They’ll have to see how much of an impact this will have on their team in the weeks to come.

In other news, the other previously unbeaten team, the Lords of Flatbush, fell to the resurging Cunning Linguists after its bye week, despite getting support from Carl Everett and Paul Konerko and decent pitching from Pedro Astacio and David Wells. Although Wade Miller had gone down to the DL, they should be getting another bat soon in the form of the returning Jermaine Dye. The Linguists picked up steam as Scott Rolen and Rafael Palmeiro, along with Rondell White, continue to swing their bats well. Couple that with Mike Mussina and the surprising Doug Davis, along with their recent pickup of Shigetoshi Hasegawa, the Linguists could very well sneak up their division.

Finally, the YRMbombers2002 had the misfortune of going up against the sizzling hot West Haven Yankees. However, they did get great support from their pitching duo of Kirk Rueter and Javier Vazquez, along with decent all-around numbers for Jimmy Rollins. The bombers also underwent a series of trades this week, adding Ichiro Suzuki, Matt Clement, and Omar Vizquel to their roster.

Fixtures

Two offensively-minded teams will clash when the Playaz meet up with their undefeated divisional leader, Bambino’s Ghost. Bad News Bears will have their bye week, as the Mantle Division holds its second intra-divisional showdown.

Sorry that I did not put this up until now. A note of thanks to Saxmania, who has done the setup for the league, along with the weekly newsletters. Not until I have done this one this week did I truly realize the amount of effort that is put in. Thanks!
~Wai Ting